The New York Television Festival is a September gathering not for established artists, like the Cannes Film Festival, but for young renegades, like Sundance (another difference: it’s about TV). The festival announced today its annual search for new television writers with the Fox-sponsored contest to submit a pilot script. This contest, in its fourth Read More
This season of “American Idol,” its tenth, began as it needed to, with an introduction to its new judges, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez (who join game-hardened veteran Randy Jackson). But did it have to be so lengthy? Minute after minute was devoted to a montage of TV-news gossip about potential new judges from last Read More
This week, CNN celebrated Piers Morgan’s ascent to Larry King’s anchor chair with a bash at the apartment of NewsBeast editrix Tina Brown. By all accounts it was a good party, despite the fact that its location, WWD discovered, had been transformed into Tina’s “brainstorming” bunker where she’s “assembling the team” for the magazine’s Read More
According to Reuters Hulu is hoping to raise $200-300 million in an IPO led by Morgan Stanley that would value the company at $2 billion.
Hulu is backed by GE (NBC), Disney (ABC) and News Corp. (Fox), so it’s future will have a big impact on New York’s media market.
The company claims to Read More
The Television Critics Association summer press tour came to a close on Monday with the Fox executive session, which meant only one thing: Deflections about American Idol. Peter Rice and Kevin Reilly, prepare to be translated.
On the rumors of American Idol deals with producer Nigel Lythgoe, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler
What Read More
Did you think that with the regular TV season drawing to a close, your DVR-and your eyeballs-would get a well-deserved rest? Think again. In their increasingly successful attempt to turn television watching into a year-round endeavor, the networks have conspired to pack the ostensible off-season with more programming than you can shake a pair of Read More
Advertisers are already buying spots for the Super Bowl (on FOX this year), which “bodes well” for the rest of the market. [NYT]
FOX will make American Idol a bit shorter; Glee will fill the precious post-Super Bowl slot. [LAT]
The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd snuck into a tech run-through of NBC’s upfront at the Read More
“What Leno is doing now is slimy,” said Thomas J. Kelly.
It was the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 18, and Mr. Kelly, a 33-year-old comedian, was standing on the outskirts of Rockefeller Plaza, catching his breath. For the past half-hour, Mr. Kelly had been striding back and forth in front of the NBC headquarters Read More
This past Sunday morning, President Barack Obama was on everywhere you looked on TV–except, of course, on Fox (sorry, Chris Wallace!).
So with the booking advantage effectively neutralized, who would triumph in the ratings?
In the end, it was David Gregory who came out on top.
On Sunday morning, NBC’s Meet the Press Read More
If there’s a silver lining to be found in the end of the summertime—besides the opportunity to retire our flip-flops!—it’s that we are on the precipice of the fall television season. Thank goodness. In an effort to get you and your DVR prepared, here’s the Observer’s fall TV preview. We’ve already covered CBS Read More
